In the 1960’s-1970’s, violence increasingly became an important factor in the Student movement for liberation in West Germany. Different levels of oppression were applied to various countries around the world, including Vietnam which was oppressed by the U.S. Student activists shadowed the different movements, and slowly incorporated the various methods into their own movement in West Germany. Indeed, Student activists fought for their liberation through a combination of international methods, however, the fuel for their violent actions mainly came from the Black Power Movement in the U.S which was motivated by Frantz Fanon’s ideas on decolonization. During the 1960s-70s, West German activists began to view that the elite higher class exploitation of the youth who went against societal norms in West Germany was very similar to the discrimination towards the Black population of America due to their skin color. Because of the newfound similarities, the two groups decided to exchange ideas on gaining liberation. The student activists and the African-Americans involved in the movement engaged in personal exchanges by traveling to each other’s countries and observing the corruption on their own, while studying tactics of fighting back. Indeed, Rudi Deutschke, the face of the SDS himself, made a trip to America and visited the slums of New York and Chicago to witness accounts of oppression with his own eyes. Through their observation of the Black Power Movement in America, as well as their interactions with members of the movement, many West German activists (SDS) increasingly supported the idea that a violent approach was the only way to seek liberation. The Black Power movement also motivated Left Wing terrorists, such as Bommi Baum...
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...y too followed Frantz Fanon’s ideals on decolonization, and in doing so sought liberation themselves.
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Founded on October 15th 1966 in Oakland, California, the Black Panther Party for Self Defense was an organization opposed to police brutality against the black community. The Party’s political origins were in Maoism, Marxism, and the radical militant ideals of Malcolm X and Che Guevara. From the doctrines of Maoism they saw the role of their Party as the frontline of the revolution and worked to establish a unified alliance, while from Marxism they addressed the capitalist economic system, and exemplified the need for all workers to forcefully take over means of production (Baggins, Brian). Mao was important to the Black Panthers because of his different stance on Marxism-Leninism when applied to Chinese peasants. The founders of the Black Panther Party, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale saw links between the Chinese peasants and the oppression of blacks in America and used Mao’s “little red book” as a guideline for social revolution (Baggins, Brian).
The 1960’s was a time society fantasized of a better world. However, the horrors of the Vietnam War soon became evident; the mass amounts of death occurring because of the war became a reality. It created a “movement”, especially in American colleges, in order to stand up for what they believed to be “right”. By 1970, many Americans believed sending troops to Vietnam was a mistake, however there were also various individuals becoming increasingly critical of the student antiwar movement
Bascomb, Neal. Hunting Eichmann: How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased down the World's Most Notorious Nazi. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print. 06 Feb. 2014.
The chaos and destruction that the Nazi’s are causing are not changing the lives of only Jews, but also the lives of citizens in other countries. Between Night by Elie Wiesel and The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, comradeship, faith, strength, and people of visions are crucial to the survival of principle characters. Ironically, in both stories there is a foreseen future, that both seemed to be ignored.
In Living for the City, Donna Murch details the origins and the rise to prominence the Black Panther Party experienced during the 1960s and into the 1970s. The Civil Rights Movement and eventually the Black Panther Movement of Oakland, California emerged from the growing population of migrating Southern African Americans who carried with them the traditional strength and resolve of the church community and family values. Though the area was heavily driven by the massive movement of industrialization during World War II, the end of the war left a period of economic collapse and social chaos in its wake. The Black Panther Party was formed in this wake; driven by continuing violence against the African American youth by the local police forces, the Black Panther Party’s roots consisted mostly of educational meetings of local African American college students.
Chalmers, David. And the Crooked Places Made Straight: The Struggle for Social Change in the 1960s. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991.
Students at the University of Missouri, specifically the Concerned Student 1950 activist group, began a resistance movement to remove the university’s president, Tim Wolfe. The university saw a rise in the number of racist incidents, but the president did not take any action. Some of the racist incidents include “a swastika, drawn in excrement” and the “screaming of racial insults, including the ‘N-word” at the head of the Missouri Students Association (“Missouri”). The students began protesting by standing in front of the president’s car at a parade, but when that didn’t garner a response they began to resist in more extreme methods. Jonathan Butler, a graduate student at the University of Missouri, went on a hunger strike, refusing to eat until the president, who took little action against the racist incidents, chose to resign. Hunger strikes, much like abortions, are a form of resistance that can be categorized by inward violence. After a week without food, Tim Wolfe resigned and Butler was able to end his hunger strike (Lowery). The students at Missouri were able to use resistance successfully to create a change in their university’s leadership. Not only did they succeed in changing the leadership, but they gained the attention of the entire nation. Their actions are causing citizens all around the country to think about existing
Bloom, Joshua, and Waldo E. Martin. Black against empire: the history and politics of the Black Panther Party. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013.
“We knew, as a revolutionary vanguard, repression would be the reaction of our oppressors, but we recognized that the task of the revolutionist is difficult and his life is short. We were prepared then, as we are now, to give our all in the interest of oppressed people” (Baggins). Radical and provocative, the 60’s was an era of complete political and social upheaval. Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had banned the discrimination of people based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, the execution of this act were initially proven weak. Unlike other national organizations or campaigns against the U.S. government, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense remains the only organization to take a militant stance, frequently seen campaigning armed and proudly wielding weapons. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, the founders of the Black Panthers, believed that the peaceful and non-violent campaign of Martin Luther King had failed, and had very little faith in the implementation of the “traditional” civil rights movement. Newton casually addresses his violent conducts, stating, “And people say, well Huey you're so violent. Why are you so violent Huey? …And I say, well hey, existence is violent; I exist, therefore I am violent in that way”(PBS).
Although the sixties were a decade in which the United States became a more open, more tolerant, and a freer country, in some ways it became less of these things. During the sixties, America intervened in other nations and efforts were made to stop the progress of the civil rights movement. Because of America’s foreign policy and Americans fight against the civil rights movement, it is clear that the sixties in America were not purely a decade of openness, tolerance, and freedom in the United States.
Farber, David, and Beth Bailey. The Columbia Guide to America in the 1960s. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001.
Bloom, Joshua and Waldo E. Martin. Black Against Empire: the history and politics of the Black Panther Party. Berkley: University of California Press, 2013.
The methods that the Panthers employed to secure Black liberation was quite feasible. This group of activists created a collective subjectivity. Thus in order to obtain all that they sought to achieve, the creation of a “revolutionary culture” was crucial to the panthers’ efforts to influence Black Americans’ consciousness, which aimed to defy the political and social powers of the United States (Rhodes, 2007, p. 92). Through the process of communication, and the use of guns as a means of intimidation, the Panthers were able to disseminate their beliefs and rituals towards a global audience. These messages relied heavily on the proliferation and buttressing of Black culture.
World War II was a grave event in the twentieth century that affected millions. Two main concepts World War II is remembered for are the concentration camps and the marches. These marches and camps were deadly to many yet powerful to others. However, to most citizens near camps or marches, they were insignificant and often ignored. In The Book Thief, author Markus Zusak introduces marches and camps similar to Dachau to demonstrate how citizens of nearby communities were oblivious to the suffering in those camps during the Holocaust.
Fritzsche, Peter. Life and Death in the Third Reich. 1st Ed. ed. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP,